A Finance Blog

Category: Other

When it comes to tracking my personal finances, I’m wary of financial aggregators like Mint and Personal Capital. I don’t want all my financial data in one place. Have you seen all the data breaches lately? For that reason I use google sheets to manage my finances. Admittedly Mint does track my credit card transactions, simply because I’m not actually sharing my password with Mint. I only use Chase credit cards, and Chase and Intuit (Mint) have an Oauth agreement.

The google sheets workbook I created is made up of various spreadsheets. In one, arguably most important, sheet, I input my daily transactions and categorize them. This data is used for calculations in separate tabs throughout the document. I only do this once or twice a week, since mint captures 99% of my transactions except for cash/debits/ACH payments. Below is a glimpse of some entries:

The information from this spreadsheet is pulled and used to provide a month-to-date snapshot of my income and spending:

When I’m over budget everything displays in red 😦

Within this document, I spend 95% of the time inputting my daily transactions and/or visualizing a snapshot of my spending-to-date. But, as stated, I do maintain other tabs as well. For instance, there is a more detailed month-to-date sheet that I rarely look at:

I use another sheet to track my net worth. I only update this at the end of the month though (A similar sheet tracks my YTD spending, but this is update automatically):

For the most part, I try to stick to the same budget from month to month, but if I need to change it, that can be done here:

February was an amazing month for my finances. I was awarded a bonus, received a pay raise, and got a small but significant tax refund.

Outside of the finance world things weren’t so amazing. I’m still struggling with my autoimmune disease and these new medications just don’t seem to be working well. The past couple of months I’ve had to get used to self-injecting on the daily. I’m not a fan. The medications are saving me a lot of money though, as the drug manufacturers are set to pay 80% of my out of pocket maximum indefinitely if I remain on them. But judging by how I feel, I doubt I’ll be sticking with it.

Net Worth

My net worth increased by almost $9,000 which translates to roughly 8%. I wasn’t expecting such a spectacular month.

I was almost tempted to adjust my home equity amount (upward) since a condo sold in my building and I now know the market value. But I’ll stick to my plan and only adjust it in December for a more conservative estimate.

Liquid Assets

Start

End

Change

Cash & Checking

$2,025

$2,025

+$0

Emergency Fund

$5,750

$6,000

+$250

Savings

$775

$2,600

+$1,825

Brokerage

$1,400

$1,600

+$200

HSA

$275

$1,025

+$750

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

Change

Bonds

$1,375

$1,225

($150)

Home Eq

$28,375

$28,950

+$575

401K

$45,375

$49,025

+$3,650

Roth IRA

$25,875

$27,225

+$1,350

Liabilities

Start

End

Change

Loans

($4,025)

($3,550)

+$475

Net Worth

$107,200

$116,125

+$8,925

% Change

+8.3%

Most of the extra cash went into savings and investments. I funded my sinking funds (referred to as savings goals), invested a little, and front loaded my HSA. The markets must have done well judging by my investment gains.

Spending

I went $38 over budget, which isn’t terrible, especially since I was under budget last month:

Category

Budget

Actual

Diff

(1)Bills & Utilities

$1,033

$1,033

$0

(2)Food

$300

$249

$51

(3)Medical

$-

$322

($322)

(4)Misc

$300

$306

($6)

(5)SF

$-

-$239

$239

Total

$1,633

$1,671

$38 over

(1) Bills & Utilities

This category is a lot higher than the $175 I usually budget for because I paid off some outstanding debts in lump sum. To me this is not the same as going over budget since these bills would have been paid eventually.

(2) Food

I was somehow under budget on food.

(3) Medical

I had more medical expenses than I would have liked. Next month will probably have similarly high medical expenses. I’m hoping things calm down thereafter.

(4) Misc

I was slightly over budget in this category. I technically could have funded a birthday gift with a sinking fund but I cash-flowed it since it wasn’t too expensive.

(5) Sinking Fund

I paid for (some) medical expenses with money I had already set aside in a sinking fund. Other medical expenses were funded by my Chase Sapphire Travel Credits.

I actually have 8 sinking funds for various long & short term savings goals, not including my emergency fund. This month I funded my slush fund with $400 which I’m hoping will now cover any budgetary overages in March – June. That means I shouldn’t be going over budget (I hope).

Another New Budget

Due to the pay raise, I’ll be changing my budget for the third time in as many months. I hope to increase my spending in the “Miscellaneous” category from $300 to ~$500 depending on how much my paycheck ends up changing. I’m trying to cash-flow medical expenses, so this raise will definitely help. My food budget will still be $300. I do estimate that my Bills & Utilities will decrease.

What happens if I am under budget in the months ahead? My plan is to save 25% in a slush fund, save 25% in another sinking fund and invest 50%.

You’d never know by looking at my net worth progress, but January was a roller-coaster of a month. I wasn’t sure when and if I’d be receiving a paycheck thanks to a wall. Things turned out well, as I eluded, and I hit a net worth of $100,000!

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Checking

$1,575

$2,025

+$450

Emergency Fund

$5,700

$5,750

+$50

Savings Goals

$775

$775

+$0

Brokerage Accts

$1,200

$1,400

+$200

HSA

$0

$275

+$275

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$1,375

$1,375

+$0

Home Equity

$27,825

$28, 375

+$550

401K

$39,525

$45,375

+$5,850

Roth IRA

$23,325

$25,875

+$2,550

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Loans

($4,175)

($4,025)

+$150

Net Worth

$97,125

$107,200

+$10,075

% Change

+10.4%

After a terrible performance in December, it comes as no surprise that the markets rebounded in January. The rebound explains roughly 60% of the increase in my net worth. Another 25% can be explained by my contributions to my 401k, HSA, and Roth IRA. I’m too lazy to figure out where the remaining 15% came from. But I’m happy about that too!

Now that I’m a 6-figure-aire, I’d like to work towards hitting a $100k net worth figure without home equity taken into account.

Spending

Even though I mentioned developing a new budget for 2019 in previous posts, I’ve decided to stick with my 2018 budget with two notable changes:(1) Any left over $$ will roll over into the next month, and(2) Medical expenses will now be budgeted. I am trying to cash flow these expenses and not touch my HSA

Category

Budgeted

Actual

Remaining

(1) Bills & Utilities

$175

$135

$40 left

(2) Food

$300

$166

$134 left

(3) Medical

$-

$79

$79 over

(4) Everything Else

$300

$278

$22 left

Total (1+2+3+4)

$775

$658

$117 left

I would like to note that I have already met my ~$1,500 deductible for the year thanks to patient assistance for one of my medications.

Lessons Learned

One thing I learned from the shutdown is that I really need to build up my emergency fund. I would like to get it up to an even $10,000 but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

February-ish

Below is a financial reflection of 2018. I would like to note that some of the numbers may be differ from the actual monthly reports due to corrections that came later. I’m pretty pleased with how 2018 went. My net worth more than doubled:

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Savings

$450

$1,575

+$1,125

Emergency Fund

$3,405

$5,700

+$2,295

Savings Goals

$525

$775

+$250

Brokerage

$697

$1,200

+$503

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$2,135

$1,375

($760)

Home Equity

$11,850

$27.825

+$15,975

401K

$26,235

$39,525

+$13,290

Roth IRA

$20,224

$23,325

+$3,101

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Credit Card

($1,792)

($0)

+$1,792

Loans

($18,751)

($4,175)

($14,576)

$44,978

$97,125

+$52,147

% Change

+115.9%

And I met all my financial goals:

Fund/Goal

Initial Goal

Actual

Percent

Retirement

15% of Income

Exceeded

–

Roth IRA

$5,500

$5,500

100%

Emergency Fund

$1,000

$1,500

150%

Net Worth Increase

$20,000

$53,592

268%

I spent the following (not including debt payments):

Category

Total

Monthly Avg

Bills & Utilities

$1,536

$128

Medical

$3,961

$330

Food

$2,718

$227

Everything Else

$7,858

$655

Note: During a typical month my goal was to spend $300/month in the “Everything Else” category. But I often times dipped into my sinking funds to pay for gifts, vacations, gadgets, and other overages. I will try to keep better track of my sinking funds next year to ensure I’m not overspending.

My goals for 2019 are:

Fund/Goal

Goal

401K Contributions

$19,000

Roth IRA Contributions

$6,000

HSA Contributions

$3,500

Net Worth Total

$100,000

Emergency Fund Contribution

$400

Savings Goal

$2,500

Collectively the goals are a bit of a stretch. Especially since I want to avoid touching my HSA (though that is not one of the goals as of yet). My guess is that I’ll have issues with the savings goal but we’ll see.

Despite the slump in the stock market, December went well and I saw a 16.1% increase in net worth:

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Checking

$1,528

$1,575

+$47

Emergency Fund

$5,423

$5,700

+$277

Savings Goals

$585

$775

+$190

Brokerage Accts

$1,273

$1,200

($73)

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$1,409

$1,375

($34)

Home Equity

$19,250

$27,825

+$8,575

401K

$40,996

$39,525

($1,471)

Roth IRA

$24,638

$23,325

($1,313)

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Loans

($11,429)

($4,175)

+$7,254

Net Worth

$83,673

$97,125

+$13,452

% Change

+16.1%

I did receive 3 paychecks in December, which certainly helped, but most of my increase in net worth came from an increase in home equity (by ~$8,000) and a decrease in my loans (by ~$7,000). In regards to my loans, I made a biannual payment on the loan to my parents. Then they agreed to dismiss most of the remaining balance. I also made extra payments to my 401k loan.

I would like to note that from now on, I will be rounding my net worth subtotals for a bit more privacy on the blog. I will also continue to update my home equity at the end of each year.

For December I didn’t do too bad budget wise:

Category

Budgeted

Actual

Remaining

(1) Bills & Utilities

$175

$146

$29 under

(2) Food

$300

$79

$221 under

(3) Medical

$-

$338

$-

(4) Everything Else

$300

$645

$345 over

Total (1+2+4)

$775

$870

$95 over

Technically I increased my “Everything Else” budget by $500, due to the holidays. This means I was actually $105 under. But I’m going to go ahead and stick with my usual numbers since I didn’t go far over my typical budget.

Coming Soon

I’ll soon be posting my year in review along with my 2019 goals. See you in the new year!

For the month of November, I wanted to see how things would go if I didn’t follow a strict budget. I’m now realizing that I probably should have waited until December because I did quite a bit of shopping. My net worth did increase though. The markets performed decently and, as usual, I contributed a sizable amount to my retirement accounts.

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Checking

$1,546

$1,528

($18)

Emergency Fund

$5,411

$5,423

+$12

Savings Goals

$1,409

$585

($824)

Brokerage Accts

$1,297

$1,273

($58)

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$1,407

$1,409

+$2

Home Equity

$18,688

$19,250

+$562

401K

$38.580

$40,996

+$2,416

Roth IRA

$23,789

$24,638

+$849

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Loans

($12,235)

($11,429)

+$806

Net Worth

$79,893

$83,639

+$3,746

% Change

+4.7%

My liquid assets decreased quite a bit due to my purchases. I also have ~$500 in credit card debt that is carrying over into December. It’s been a while since I’ve had to carry over credit card debt into the next month and I’m not proud about that. Using reverse engineering I can back out my spending and compare it to a typical month:

Category

Budgeted

Actual

Remaining

(1) Bills & Utilities

$175

$146

$10 under

(2) Food

$300

$319

$90 under

(3) Medical

$-

$92

$-

(4) Everything Else

$300

$1,170

$708 over

Total (1+2+4)

$775

$1,635

$860 over

I went way over my “Everything Else” budget. This is where my miscellaneous spending went:

New TV – $635

Christmas Gifts – $125 (With ~$175 left to go)

Home Decor – $100

Snow boots – $45

Thankfully the overages were anticipated. I didn’t actually stray too far from my budget, I knew these expenses were coming and so I did establish sinking funds for them (note how my “Savings Goals” category decreased in my net worth). But it was hard for me to gauge whether or not I was going overboard since I made so many extra purchases. It sure felt like I was going overboard, but turns out I did not.

Next Month

Last month I mentioned November was a 3 paycheck month. Turns out that the third check hasn’t actually processed it will be reflected in my December post. That’s why I have so much credit carrying over into December. I’m not going to be doing too much with the third paycheck due to impending medical bills and a loan payment to my parents. After December I’m going to tweak my budget a bit to try and save more in 2019. Until next time!

So long October. This past October is actually my first acknowledged “bad” month since I started this blog. So what happened? Well for one the markets did not cooperate, which largely contributed to a decline in net worth:

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Checking

$2,700

$1,546

($1,154)

Emergency Fund

$5,405

$5,411

+$6

Savings Goals

$725

$1,109

+$384

Brokerage Accts

$1,355

$1,297

($58)

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$1,405

$1,407

+$2

Home Equity

$18,125

$18,688

+$563

401K

$39,880

$38,580

($1,300)

Roth IRA

$25,400

$23,789

($1,611)

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Loans

($13,190)

($12,235)

+$955

Net Worth

$81,805

$79,593

($2,213)

% Change

-2.7%

Another thing that didn’t help my budget was having to buy a new chromebook for the second month in a row.

Category

Budgeted

Actual

Remaining

(1) Bills & Utilities

$755

$745

$10 under

(2) Food

$300

$210

$90 under

(3) Medical

$-

$79

$-

(4) Everything Else

$300

$1,008

$708 over

Total (1+2+4)

$1,355

$1,963

$608 over

I have bad computer luck, so I really should have insured my old chromebook, but I didn’t. And since it was cheap, it didn’t survive the fall off my coffee table. The new Chromebook cost me $600. It is insured for 4 years, and this one has “gorilla glass”. So at least I won’t have to worry about saving for a new one next year. If it weren’t for this purchase I wouldn’t have gone so far ($608) over budget. Good thing I earned an extra $800 last month.

I also paid 3 periodic bills that totaled another $600. I did anticipate them, which is why my “Bills & Utilities” budget is so much higher than usual.

And I’m pretty proud of my low medical costs this month. I am still waiting on a few bills, and I anticipate higher costs in November/December.

A New Budgeting Method

One new thing that I tried in October was to not actively track my budget. I only tallied up my expenses at the end of the month for the consistency of this blog. I think I’m going to try it again next month to see how it goes. I know that I budget $600 for my “Food” and “Everything Else” expenses. Since all these expenses go on my credit cards, I can easily keep track of my progress by ensuring my credit cards do not exceed a collective total of $600. Budgeted expenses that fall outside of “Food” and “Everything Else” categories (such as “Bills & Utilities”), can be paid right away to make tracking easier. If it works out well, I will no longer meticulously track my expenditures.

Next Month

I’m really looking forward to next month. I’ll be getting three paychecks! This year is a bit unusual since there will be three months with three paychecks instead of the usual two (i.e. 27 pay periods instead of 26). I plan to purchase a TV, put money aside for Christmas presents, and make a loan payment to my parents. It’s been pretty hard for me to save, since I’m paying down my 401K loan. I plan to stop aggressive payments in January 2019. In June 2019, I should have my furniture loan paid off and get a pay raise. Then I’ll be in a position to save up to $300/month. If I were more strict with my current budget I could do that now.

Next Year

This month it’s open season and I’ll have to decide on my healthcare plan for 2019. I had been internally debating over whether I should switch to a High Deductible Healthcare Plan (HDHP) so I could make use of an HSA. My employer recently published the options for next year. Interestingly, the HDHP is strictly better. According to my calculations, if I have a year of perfect health, the HDHP would result in $4,000 in savings over the regular option. If I have a year of poor health the HDHP would still result in sizable savings of $1,600 over the alternative. Usually, HDHPs are more expensive than low-deductible alternatives if you use a lot of medical care resources . In this case, the HDHP monthly premium payments are near $0, which offsets the higher deductible and out of pocket maximum.

Recap

All in all the month wasn’t terrible, I didn’t lose any sleep over my financial circumstances or anything, but I’ve had better months.

September was another great month, at least in the financial sense. My net worth increased by around 4 percent:

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Checking

$2,100

$2,700

+$600

Emergency Fund

$5,375

$5,405

+$30

Savings Goals

$725

$725

+$0

Brokerage Accts

$1,350

$1,355

+$5

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$1,425

$1,405

($20)

Home Equity

$17,575

$18,125

+$550

401K

$38,600

$39,880

+$1,280

Roth IRA

$25,150

$25,400

+$250

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Loans

($13,950)

($13,190)

+$760

Net Worth

$78,350

$81,805

+$3,455

% Change

+4.4%

I stuck to my budget and only went $1 over. In my last post I mentioned that I needed a new laptop. And I bought a replacement near the end of the month once I realized I was $300 under budget. The replacement ended up being a chromebook instead of another $1,000 macbook air. I am not in grad school anymore so a laptop really isn’t necessary since I have a work-provided laptop. I thought I would regret a purchase of a lower quality macbook alternative, but I was immediately satisfied. My only complaint is that the screen does not get very bright, which is kind of a big deal since I have low vision. My budget is below:

Category

Budgeted

Actual

Remaining

(1) Bills & Utilities*

$175

$147

$28 under

(2) Food

$300

$206

$94 under

(3) Medical

$-

$271

$-

(4) Everything Else

$300

$423

$123 over

Total (1+2+4)

$775

$776

$1 over

Another financial happening includes earning an additional $800. And I’m still spending quite a bit on healthcare costs. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to tame this beast of an autoimmune disease. Next year I am going to try and be more mindful of my transportation (i.e. ubers & lyfts) to and from my doctor’s appointments. I’ll be doing more pooling and sharing.

Anyway, I have not shared my goal progress in a while:

#

Description

Goal ($)

Value

%

1

Retirement Contributions

$14,000

$12,200

87%

3

401K Loan Payments

$2,500

$4,375

175%

4

Emergency Fund Contributions

$1,000

$1050

105%

5

Increase Net Worth

$20,000

$30,000

150%

I made my 2018 goals at the beginning of the year under the assumption that my income would remain unchanged throughout the year. Since I was promoted, I far exceeded most goals. I am predicting that my net worth will increase by another $10k by the end of the year, and I’ll likely meet my retirement contribution goal as well. Hopefully I’ll hit a $100k net worth in 2019.

August was another financially stable month and my net worth increased by about 7 percent. However there were some happenings that are likely to impact my finances in the near future.

First, my Macbook of 4 years died and my “Gadget” sinking fund is not funded enough to buy a new one. I could afford a cheap laptop with the funds I do have, but I would rather purchase a quality product. I have some time to think on it. I’ll wait a bit since I’m hearing rumors of a new, cheaper macbook air.

Second, my health isn’t great and it’s costing me quite a bit. I’ve practically drained my FSA and I am anticipating another $1,000 in copays before the year is over. Not to mention travel costs to my appointments are high.

I’m very disappointed that my health has gotten to this point when I feel it didn’t have to. The issue is I have not been on a medication to control my autoimmune disease since last September. I had a bad reaction to a new medication around that time and the doctor that prescribed it assumed that my symptoms stemmed from depression. Instead of prescribing a new medication, the doctor has chosen to ignore me. So I’m having to find new doctors and deal with the complications of going under treated.

I had my second minor surgical procedure in August as a result of being on no medications. The fact that this disease can kill me makes things all the more confusing.

I was talking to a friend about the bad luck I’ve had with my health care over the years and she said something that really put things into perspective. Medicine is a male dominated field and doctors tend not to take women as seriously as men. Medical care is even starker for minority women with their medical care being worse. I remember reading this article on what Serena William’s scary childbirth story says about medical treatment of black women that had the same message. With prejudices baked into the profession and training, I’m fighting an uphill battle. I never thought of it this way but it does explain how I got here. And why it’s been so hard for me to get the right treatment over the years.

Anywhoo, enough about that and on to my net worth :

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Checking

$1,703

$2,100

+$397

Emergency Fund

$5,369

$5,375

+$6

Savings Goals

$719

$725

+$6

Brokerage Accts

$1,234

$1,350

+$116

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$1,429

$1,425

($4)

Home Equity

$17,015

$17,575

+$560

401K

$36,291

$38,600

+$2,309

Roth IRA

$24,000

$25,150

+$1,150

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Loans

($14,760)

($13,950)

+$810

Net Worth

$73,000

$78,350

+$5,350

% Change

+7.3%

One thing that changed in August is that I’ve slowed my payments to my 401k loan so that I can set money aside for health related costs. These funds are held in my “cash and checking” accounts.

Spending

I went $32 over budget and this month I’m going to blame the $210 dining table I purchased for ruining my budget. Actually, I had set aside some money in my “Home Goods” sinking fund for it, but since it fit into my monthly budget (well… almost) , I decided not to touch it.

Category

Budgeted

Actual

Remaining

(1) Bills & Utilities*

$390

$365

$25 under

(2) Food

$300

$257

$43 under

(3) Medical

$-

$189

$-

(4) Everything Else

$300

$400

$100 over

Total (1+2+4)

$990

$1,022

$32 over

The asterisk for bills and utilities was put in place because I paid $115 extra towards my personal loan to my parents.

July was another good month, with a sizable net worth increase of 8.6 percent. If you notice, I’ve been able to fund my various savings goals. Not sure if I noted elsewhere, but I have the following electronic sinking funds in addition to my emergency fund:

Semi-annual bills

Clothing

Home Goods

Gifts

Gadgets

Travel

Liquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Cash & Checking

$1,418

$1,703

+$285

Emergency Fund

$4,818

$5,369

+$551

Savings Goals

$365

$719

+$354

Brokerage Accts

$1,203

$1,234

+$31

Illiquid Assets

Start

End

$ Change

Savings Bonds

$1,453

$1,429

($24)

Home Equity

$16,455

$17,015

+$560

401K

$34,236

$36,291

+$2,055

Roth IRA

$23,461

$24,000

+$539

Liabilities

Start

End

$ Change

Credit Cards

($387)

$0

($387)

Loans

($15,809)

($14,760)

+$1,049

Net Worth

$67,213

$73,000

+$5,787

% Change

+8.6%

Spending

On July 31 I realized I was well under budget, so I splurged on a $130 glass personal blender I had been eyeballing for the last few months. I’m trying to move away from plastics, chemicals and processed foods due to the health issues that I have. I’ve slowly been making this shift over the past 4 years. I don’t think it’s helping but, oh well.

Category

Budgeted

Actual

Remaining

(1) Bills & Utilities

$275

$253

$22 under

(2) Food

$300

$183

$117 under

(3) Medical

$-

$526

$-

(4) Everything Else

$300

$388

$88 over

Total (1+2+4)

$875

$824

$51 under

Following my new budget has made things so much easier. If you don’t recall, I increased my “Food”and “Everything Else” budget by $100 each last month. After the blender purchase I still ended up being $51 under budget. Here’s to hoping August is just as easy. Apologies for not posting anything other than the boring net worth posts. One of these days I’ll get this health stuff under control so I can move on with my life.